Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Spring is approaching with a roar, Preparing itself for action, And beneath the storm and winds The seeds are growing; Awaken now mankind, So spring does not find you still sleeping!

Cast off winter cares, Bid a fresh welcome to the visitor; He hastens like a new morning, And doesn’t stop long to rest. The buds swell, the flowers bloom, The hour rushes by and spring flies along.

Poor mankind With hearts so sore and tender, Arise, break with comfort those bonds, Look bravely at spring’s arrival! The ice is melting, the stream flows, Your pain is eased and gently dissolves.

And as the silent birds Take up their song once more, So shall melody swell up From the depths of your soul: Until, free of cares and isolation, You are enveloped in song and sunshine!

A delightful setting in A major, a key in which Mendelssohn always excelled – as witness the stunning opening movements of the ‘Italian’ Symphony and First String Quintet – presumably because of its life-affirming brightness (a sensitivity he shared with his beloved Mozart). Here the magic really starts with the third stanza where Mendelssohn gently pulls in the reins with a reflective poco più lento section until the sunshine returns with a skin-tingling outburst of melodic radiance.

I wander forth to a distant land; Once more I looked sorrowfully back, And saw how her mouth trembled And how she waved her hand.

Happily she still called a friendly word To me on my gloomy way, But I didn’t hear that lovely sound, Because the wind carried it away

If I must abandon happiness, You raw, cold breath of wind, Is it not enough that you also Snatched away her last greeting from me?

One of Mendelssohn’s last compositions – he died just over three months later – and one of those written in the wake of his beloved sister Fanny’s death. Having unleashed a veritable storm of anguish in the F minor String Quartet (intended as a ‘Requiem for Fanny’), here little more than a week later he sounds more resigned to his feelings, extolling a sense of isolation which owes more than a little to Schubert’s Winterreise.